Happy Birthday
by The Marauders Minus Two
Summary: It's Harry's birthday and he's about to get a big surpise.


Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

** **

It was the night before Harry's fifteenth birthday.He was in his room at the Dursleys' after a bad encounter with Dudley and a cheesecake.He was expecting his birthday to be the same as any other year, hardly a birthday at all.He sat on his bed staring at the ceiling.

_If only this year could be different,_ he thought._I wonder what it would be like if my parents were still alive? I wish Voldemort had never been born. Then I could be with my family, like a normal kid.I wish that for just one day, they could be here with me.Just one day, that's all I'm asking._With that thought, he fell asleep.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" a voice broke through his blissful slumber. He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. 

"Harry, get up! You don't want to miss your birthday, do you? Everybody's coming!" he frowned.That didn't sound like the Durlsys at all. The one voice sounded mysteriously like his own.And who was everybody? There was no everybody. 

"Harry Potter! Get up this instant!" the pillow was yankedoff him and he wasyanked out of bed."Get dressed, Sirius and Mari will be here any minute."Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he glanced around. 

"Sirius and Mari?" he asked. 

"Yes.Here are your glasses. You left them on the table again."So that was why everything was so blurry.He took the offered glasses and put them on. 

As he did so, he was able to see everything clearly, and he was shocked by what he saw. The room was not his, the bed not his, the cloths not his, and the mother bustling around his room, picking up random clothes, his. 

"Mum?" 

"yes, Harry?" she stood up. Sure enough, Lily Potterwas standing before him, live and in person, wearing green robes, her flame colored hair was pulled up into a loose bun and her identical eyes showed stress and exasperation. 

In a burst of emotion, Harry pulled her into a hug. Lily, surprised at her teenage son's sudden affection, hugged him back. 

"I missed you." Harry said. Lily shook her head. 

"What?Harry, are you alright?"

"Mum, you're, err, you're dead." Then she smiled. Patting him on the head, she handed himsome clothes. 

"You must have had a bad dream.Don't worry.Everything's fine now. You're safe with your family."She smiled and pushed the clothes towards him. "Now get dressed.Kate, Michael,Sara are waitingfor you to open your presents downstairs."

"Kate, MichaelSara?" 

"Harry, I know you said you wished you were an only child, but the fact is you have two little sisters and one little brother and I expect you to be nice to them. No more telling them thatdragons live under their beds."With that she left Harry to get dressed, in bewilderment. 

After he was dressed, in clothes that actually fit, he made his way down the stairs. He followed the voices until he came to a kitchen. Seated at the table were three kids, two girls' ages ten andeight, and the boy, age four and a newspaper.They grinned when they saw him. 

"Harry!" the boy jumped off his seat and ran at Harry, attackinghis legs.The boy'sblue eyes were strange to Harry, until he recognized them as his dads. The girls shared their mum's hair and eyes. 

"It's about time you got up, kid." A voice came from behind the newspaper.It was set aside and Harry was looking at his father. 

"Dad?" James looked at him and nodded, a confused look on his face.In a rush, he hugged the older mirror image of himself. James looked confused but hugged him back. 

"You ready for your big day?" Harry could only nod. He sat down next to the eldest girl whogrinned at him. Lily grinned and set a largeplate of pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast in front of him. It was possibly the biggest breakfast anyone had ever laid before him. James eyed him as he stared hungrily at the plate. 

"Well, don't just sit there, son. Eat. Your mother worked hard, making that." 

"Mum, when are Uncle Sirius and Aunt Mari coming?"

"And what aboutUncle Remus and Aunt Addi?"the younger girl asked. 

"And Uncle Peter?"Harry coughed. 

"Peter's coming?" everyone looked at him. 

"Yes. Why wouldn't he?"Harry only stared at them in disbelief. But he was saved from an explanation by the doorbell. 

"Harry, why don't you get that?"Lily asked as sheplaced new place mats and silver wears down.Nervously,he got up. 

As he made his way towards the door, he wondered if it was possible. Had his wish come true? It was the only explanation he could think of. This was a world without Voldemort. 

He pulled open the door and was greeted by a large pile of presents. Then a face poked out from behind them. 

"Hey Harry, could you give me a hand with these?"Sirius's voice, but without the hoarseness or the pain.Harry took several packages and handed them to James who appeared. 

"Hey, Padfoot!" 

"Prongs!"the two grinned and shook hands.Sirius grinned at Harry and Harry was truly amazed at what he saw. Sirius's face was so much different. He was still thin, butnot half as thin as he had been. His face was much fuller and his hair, though still long, was kept tied back in a neat ponytail. His eyes were full of laughter and light. Not a hint of Azkaban hovered in them. 

There was the sound of laughter an shouting from behind him and Harry looked up. A streak rushed past him and Sirius scooped up a small girl before she couldrun into anything. 

"Andy. Slow. Please." 

"Yes, da."She said and he let her down.Then a parade of kids made their way intothe room, all hugging James and Harry.A beautiful but tired looking woman made her way in behind her.She hugged Harry and he frowned.Then there was a horn beep outside. He looked out and saw Professor Lupin, no- Remus.He was arriving in a car with a woman beside him and four kids in the back. God, how many kids did the marauders have? He wondered. 

"hey, how's the birthday boy?' Remus asked as hewalked up the door. 

"I'm fine." 

"Moony!" two voice's chorused.Sirius and James rushed out to meet their friend. 

"Shesh, you guys. You just saw me yesterday. It's not like you've been gone for years." Here Harry coughed.They all looked at him, but shrugged.A short woman with brown hair and bright blue eyes came walking up the front steps followed by a parade of three kids, two girls and a boy.Harry was engulfed with hugs by all.It was nice, although it would have been easier had he known who they all were.He recognized Cassi, Sirius's eldest, as one of Ginny Weasley's friends.After a while he got used to the noise and settled in.There were kids everywhere.But he liked it.He had never been in such an atmosphere before.This was his family.The family he would have had.Or the family he did have, he wasn't sure.Then Peter pulled up.

"Dad," Harry asked."Why is Peter here?"James looked at him slightly confused.

"Oh, Wormtail?Because he's family.Why wouldn't he come?" he said.Harry nodded.Peter arrived at the door.

"Hi Harry.Happy Birthday!" he said rather cheerfully.

"Uh, hi Peter," said Harry, doubtfully.

"Wormtail!" the three other marauders shouted.The wives all shook their heads and laughed. The children continued screaming.Peter, Harry noticed, had come alone.He knew that the Peter in this world hadn't done anything wrong, but he couldn't look at that face that he knew so well and not feel angry about what had really happened.Soon everyone began filtering inside. Harry turned and watched them go, grinning. 

"Harry!" Harry spun around at the sound of the familiar voice. Dumbledore stood there, smiling and holding a very large mirror. Harry recognized it as the Mirror of Erised. He kept his gaze away from it and smiled up at the old man.

"Professor!" James called. "Glad you could make it." he took the mirror from Dumbledore andtook it upstairs, just as an explosion came from the living room. 

"Let me guess,Sirius and Remusare here?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded.Dumbledore sighed and walked inside where he was greeted by cries of "Dumbledore!"

then there was another shout from the driveway. 

To his surprise and great relief, he saw Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George climb out of the car. 

"Hey, Mrs. Weasly!" James called from the doorway, he was back. Shehonked and waved.an explosion sounded from indoors. And Sirius's voice called out, "No! Polaris! Gemini! That is flammable!"

"Sounds like we're being paged." Fred cackled.They dashed inside with a word of hello to James who shook his head.

Soon it was nearly time for lunch.They were all in the back yard and James was attempting to barbecue, muggle style.Sirius who was the 'expert' of this sort of thing, being the only marauder from a muggle family, was helping.

"Do you trust those two to be barbecuing?"asked Mari.

"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Addi."They're good enough at blowing stuff up without gasoline."Just then, Remus came running over with a fire extinguisher, just in case.Peter, who had the camera, snapped a picture.Suddenly, there was a loud booming noise.James and Sirius stood, coughing as smoke poured out everywhere.Remus was now making good use of the fire extinguisher.Fred and George had heard the explosion and came running.

"Whoa, nice one Mr. Potter and Mr. Black!" exclaimed Fred.

"Yeah, can we try?" asked George.James was just about to say yes when Lily came marching over.

"James Potter, Sirius Black, what do you think you're doing?" Lily shouted at them.

"Just a nice little barbecue," said James holding up a char black steak and grinning.Lily rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation.Harry laughed.His parents were cool.

After that they ate lunch, which consisted of nothing but cake since James and Sirius had managed to ruin everything else.Lily was extremely angry until Mari and Addi finally calmed her down.They all sang happy birthday to Harry.It was the first time that song had ever been sungonly for him.He blinked back tears. After that they ate cake.Or at least about half of them actually ate it.The other half just threw it at each other.That other half consisted of mainly the marauders.Lily claimed that they were the worst 'kids' there.After everyone was done eating, Sirius announced that there would be a game of quidditch.Marauders vs. everyone else.Dumbledore reclined andwas referee, holding the onlykid too young to play,. Sirius's daughter Andy. 

"Harry's on our team too," announced James.Needless to say the Marauders won, and there wasn't much cheating occurring.Well that depends on who you ask.Don't ask Lily for the sake of the Marauders.The game ended when Siriusyelled "Present time!"

They all returned to their seats and Harry was presented with a large pile of presents.More presents than he'd gotten total in his whole life lie before him right now.The first one he opened was from Hermione.It was (you're never gonna guess this one) a book!The next present was from Fred and George—dungbombs.He opened present after present.Finally he was left with two.One was long and skinny, the other was short and fat.He reached for the long skinny one first.The tag read: _to make sure you win every game from the Marauders_.He had a feeling he knew what it was.He opened it and he saw a Firebolt broom lying inside.It was identical to the one he had, or used to have.

"Yes!Thanks!I know it will help me win," said Harry.

"It was Padfoot"s idea," said Remus.Harry nodded.

"I know."He looked at Remus and Sirius expecting them to know what he was talking about.They showed no sign of knowing anything about it.There was one remaining present.Slowly Harry unwrapped it. 

laying in the box was a silvery, shiny cloth. Harry, knowing exactly what it was, pulled it out and unraveled it. it was his father's invisibility cloak. 

There was a collective gasp from the Marauders. 

"James, I didn't know you still had that." Remus said, softly. 

"Of course I did.How can you get rid of an invisibility cloak?Why, half of the pranks we're famous for, we couldn't have done without it. it's only right that Harry has it now and carries on the tradition with his friends." James said, winking at Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Cassi, Fred and George. 

"But," Sirius said, "We still may need to borrow it from time to time."Lily simply rolled her eyes. Harry noticed she did that a lot, but afterwards there was always a smile on her face. 

"Now it's my turn." Lily said, pulling out a small wrapped package. Harry took it and carefully removed the wrapping.Inside was a gold pocket watch.On the front was his name, _Harris James Potter._ And as he opened it, scribed on the inside cover was a message. _We love you, and we're proud of you, son, love Mum and dad and your little siblings._He smiled. Grinning, trying to keep back the tears that strung his eyes, he blinked. Then he looked up. Lily was looking at him expectantly.But she was not expecting him to throw himself at her. 

"Thanks, mum. And dad, and everybody."Then hehugged his dad. 

"Pictures!" Sirius called.

"Are you in charge of announcing when we change activities or something?" Harry asked. Sirius grinned. 

"Yes. Now get back in your chair, birthday boy."Harry did as he was told.Everyone gathered around the table as Remus tried to figure out how to work the camera. 

"You press the red button! Red!"James called. Harry laughed. 

"There is no red button." Remus shot back. 

"It's right there." Sirius said. 

"No, it's not. There is no red button."Sirius and James went to help him.sure enough, there was no red button. 

"It was here a second ago." 

"Well, red buttons on camera just don't disappear, now do they?" Remus asked.Per groaned andcame over. 

"You guys need tolearn how to do this, the red button is right-" he stopped in midsentance. "Or maybe not." 

"What did you guys do now?" Lily moaned. 

"It wasn't us!"the four men chorused.Then Fred and George burst out laughing.Everyone looked at them suspiciously.They started bowing. 

"Thank you, thank you!"

"See, we told you it wasn't us!" the Marauders shouted. Then they applauded forthe two Weasleys.Everyone laughed. 

Finally,the red button appeared and Remus was able to get the camera on timer. He rushed back to take his place besideSirius.

"Smile!" Sirius shouted and they did so just as the flash went off.Everybody blinked for a second, trying to regain their sight. 

Just then en explosion sounded. Everybody jumped as fireworks flew from under the chair in which Dumbledore was sitting.He laughed along with the rest of them. 

"You never get tired of that one, do you?"they shook their heads, unable to talk from laughter. 

"That time, it was us." Peter informed them.

"Peter!' James said, as if hurt. He gave him a completely innocent look, then grinned. 

"Well, we have to get these kids home to bed." Sirius said asAndyfell asleep in his lap. 

One by one, the guests began to filter out.Harry gave Remus and Addi a big hug.Then Sirius gave him a bear hug, lifting him off the ground. Mari gave him a much small more reasonable hug, allowing him to breathe, unlike her husband. Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys shouted a goodbye as they got into the car and drove home.Then Peterwished the Potters a goodnight and headed home.Even Dumbledore left by way of apperating. 

It was a tired, but happy Potter family who closed the door.James sent the three youngest off to bed. Harry hugged each of them tightly as they did.Lily, who was too tired to actually clean, waved her wand and everything was done.Then she collapsed in her chair.Jamesfell onto the couch and Harrysat beside him.They all gave contented sighs. 

"You should go to bed too, Harry. We're going to Diagon alleytomorrow." James said. 

'Why?" Harry asked. 

"To get your stuff and also Sara needs to get her stuff for school. She's starting this year."Harry nodded, as if he had simply forgotten.They were quiet for a few minutes.Then Harry got up to go to his room.As he reached the stairs he turned around. 

"Mum, dad?" they looked at him. "Thanks for everything.I mean it.you don't know how much it means to me."James and Lily smiled. 

"Glad to know you feel like that, kid." James said.But Lily looked at him.she got up and walked over. When she reached Harry, she smiled andtried to brush back part of his unruly hair. 

"You seem much older today, Harry.You're growing up."Then Harry hugged her. In a way, he never wanted to let go, and to stay in his mother's embrace forever. But she let go and smiled. 

"Now off to bed."

"See you in the morning, kid." James called.Harry nodded, a lump in his throat. 

"Goodnight. I love you." Now they looked at him again. 

"We love you too, son." James said.Then Harry trudged up the stairs to his room.

As he passed the hall closet, he noticed the mirror.He didn't mean to, but as he passed, he glanced at his reflection in it. to his surprise, it was only his reflection.What was it Dumbledore had said all those years ago?The happiest man in the world would look into the mirror and show only his reflection. At that moment, Harry truly was the happiest person in the world. 

Then he noticed his forehead. There was no scar, not even a hint of one.He grinned as he walked back to his room. If only this could last forever. 

As he drifted off, his hand closed around the watch his mother had given him. 

The tapping on the window was what awoke him the next morning. He groaned, expecting Lily or James to pull the pillow off and tell him to get up, but they didn't,the tapping continued, and sighing he rolled over. Right off the bed. 

As he sat up, he was dismayed to realize he was back at the Durlsys.Sighing, he thought, it was only a dream. Then heglanced at the makeshift calendar on the wall.The date was August first.The day after his birthday. 

At the foot of his bed, he found a pile of presents.There were the usually ones from Ron and Hermione, and Hagrid. But Sirius's was missing. Harry hoped nothing had happened to him.he opened Hermione's, a book on quiddich, and Ron's, a box of chocolate frogs, then as helifted Hagrid's,rock hard cakes, home made for course, he noticed something.

It was a small card, laying underneath everything.He picked it up and opened it. what he found nearly made him fall off the bed again.It read happy birthday, and was signed byeveryone who had been in his dream. There wasMari's neat writing and Andy's two-year-old scrawl.He could even see the messy signature of Sirius and the tidy one of Remus. But what bewildered him the most were thesignatures of his parents.Then he noticed the small piece of paper attached. He pulled it off and looked. It was the picture that had been taken of the party after the red button incident.Everyone was grinning and waving.Even his parents. 

As he sat back, he sat on something. Pulling it out, he was even more shocked to see the pocket watch his mother hadgiven him. 

It read the same, all but the bottom. His sibling's names were gone, andthere was an extra sentence at the bottom. _We're sorry, we can't be there for you, but we're always watching. _

Then Harry heard the tapping again.He went over to the window and was shocked to see Sirius.The same Azkaban Sirius he knew so well. 

"Sirius!"

"It's about time." Sirius grinned. 

"Sirius, " Harry asked, slowly, "What day is it?"Sirius shook his head. 

"I am sorry, Harry. I tried to get here yesterday. But I couldn't."he shrugged. "I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't." 

then Harry reached over to the side of his bed and brought out the picture, the card, and the watch. 

"You don't remember?" Sirius took thecard, and frowned. Then he saw the picture.Hands shaking, he took it and watched withamazement. Slowly, he shook his head. 


End file.
